High-profile accidents put spotlight on workplace safety

We wouldn’t dare attempt to put a dollar figure on the value of a person’s life, but we’re pretty sure it isn’t $13,300.

Yet that was the average fine levied in Massachusetts against workplaces where safety violations resulted in death, according to a report released Wednesday.

Unions and other worker advocates contend such penalties make it more cost-effective to pay fines than make expensive safety changes.

When you look at the numbers, it’s hard to argue.

Even though the average fine in this state is $13,300, nine of the 14 penalized employers settled 2009 cases for less than $10,000; four of those paid $5,000.

That’s particularly unsettling when you see cases where deadly accidents were not the first sign of trouble.

In August, Alan Forsyth, 51, of Stoughton died in a forklift accident at the Super-Dog Pet Food Co. warehouse in Taunton. A year earlier, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration wrote the company eight citations, three for violations involving forklifts, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Heath, which put out Wednesday’s report with the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

In September, Claudel Belizaire, 29, died when the front-end loader he was driving tipped over at Liddell Bros. Inc., trapping him underneath. Two years earlier, the Halifax company was fined $57,000 by OSHA after inspectors found safety violations presenting a “real and present” potential for death or serious injury.

A $7,000 fine against Liddell has been proposed for the September incident, but the case is not closed, according to the report.

Workplace safety has taken center stage in the last month with horrific accidents in a West Virginia coal mine and on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Union leaders and others hope such attention will spur more protective regulations for workers and tougher penalties against employers who endanger them.

Sixty-two people died from work-related causes in Massachusetts last year, according to a report released this week.

The number is lower than previous years. There were 68 workplace deaths last year, 75 in 2007 and 81 the year before. This suggests a welcome downward trend, but tougher laws and more aggressive follow-up where violations are found might accelerate it.

Many employers go to great lengths to maintain safety on the job and while it’s true larger fines will not eliminate the problem, they and other changes might give some employers more reason to make safety a high priority not only in word but in deed.